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The
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Vietnam were marked with a
multitude of unrests, both inside and outside the country. Feudalism
in Vietnam, having reached its prime back in the fifteenth century,
began to show obvious signs of weakening throughout the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the
feudal systems of the country gradually and steadily descended into a
state of complete chaos and turmoil, with multiple political powers,
both domestic and foreign, fighting against one another in order to
achieve dominance over the entire nation. Their seemingly endless
fightings were further accompanied by a number of rebellions led by
the angry people of the working class, the farmers who had long grown
weary of how corrupted the central government had become, as well as
of all the injustice and heavily imposed taxes they had been forced
to endure.

The
Later Lê Dynasty (1428 – 1788):

Nhà Hậu Lê (The Later Lê Dynasty)
was recorded as the longest-lasting dynasty
of feudal Vietnam, whose reign spanned more than three centuries,
from 1428 up to 1788. The dynasty was given the name Hậu Lê in
order to distinguish itself from the first Lê Dyansty, commonly
referred to as the the Tiền Lê (The Earlier
Lê), which had been founded by Lê Hoàn
(later known as Lê Đại Hành) in 980 and which had lasted until
the year 1009.

The Later Lê Dynasty was established when its founder,
Lê Lợi, began a resistance movement against the Ming armies
occupying the country at the time. Beginning from the year 1416, Lê
Lợi along with the aid of his Lam Sơn fellow warriors and the
tactician Nguyễn Trãi, with whom he had exchanged oaths, employed
a variety of surprise and guerrilla attacks against the Ming armies,
reaping multiple successes. By 1428, the Lam Sơn army had
successfully liberated the entire country and chased the Ming out. Lê
Lợi then ascended to the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor Lê
Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the long-lasting Later Lê Dynasty.
Under his rule, as well as the subsequent reigns of his descendants,
the country flourished in every way. The people enjoyed the long
years of peace and prosperity.

In 1471, Lê Thái Tổ’s descendant Lê
Thánh Tông, considered to be the greatest of all the rulers of the
Later Lê Dynasty, permanently subjugated Champa and carried out
several significant reforms within the country.

He divided the nation into 13 provinces, an administrative model
which was fashioned after that of China. Additionally, he established
a tradition of the triennial Confucian civil
service examination to recruit talented men from all over the nation
to serve the court and, most importantly, the people. Lê Thánh Tông
was also credited with the establishment
of the Hồng Đức legal code, further changing the law of the
country for the better. Despite being based on the Chinese law, the
Hồng Đức legal code officially recognized and elevated the
position of women in society. No longer was parental consent
mandatory for marriage, and under the new law, daughters could enjoy
the same inheritance rights as sons. The law represented a
progressive and fair mindset. During his reign, Lê Thánh Tông
continued to follow the teachings of Confucianism, maintaining a good
central government as well as his personal morality.

The
administrative system under Lê Thánh Tông’s reign, though
influenced and inspired by the Chinese counterpart, included
distinctly Vietnamese elements, further reinforcing the country’s
independence from China. Under Lê Thánh Tông’s rule, the Later
Lê Dynasty continued to prosper, ushering a golden age in feudal
Vietnam. After his passing in 1497, his son Lê Hiến Tông
continued to preserve his legacy throughout his reign, which ended
with his own passing in 1504. The death of Lê Hiến Tông marked
the beginning of turmoil in the sixteenth century.

In 1527, the throne of the Lê Dynasty was eventually usurped by Mạc
Đăng Dung, a member of the powerful and influential
Mạc family. Although a new Lê emperor would be crowned in
1533 with the help of the opposing Nguyễn
family, the subsequent Lê rulers were reduced to nothing more than
figureheads for manipulation. Real power at the time was divided
between two families, the Trịnh clan
in the north (based in Hà Nội) and the Nguyễn clan in the south
(based in Huế). The two clans would inevitably wage a series of
fierce and bloody civil wars for dominance over the country.

In the
end, the seemingly endless fighting would ultimately leave the
country divided into two regions when a truce was formed in 1673.
During the peaceful time, the Nguyễn lords would mobilize their
troops and wage wars with the weakened Khmer Empire and the state of
Siam.

These
wars, along with corruption and heavy taxes imposed upon the poor
commoners, would further jeopardize their already declining
popularity with the people under their rule. Among those who had
grown to disdain the Nguyễn’s rule were the Tây Sơn brothers:
Nguyễn Nhạc, Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Lữ, who would
eventually rise up, name themselves the champions of the people and
stage one of the most famous rebellions in Vietnamese history.

The
Tây Sơn Dynasty (1778 – 1802):

The
Tây Sơn brothers, having won over the hearts and respect of the
people, led the revolt. Under their leadership, the people won some
battles against the Nguyễn. The Tây Sơn army, having grown in
size and power, continued to enjoy a great deal of support not only
from the poor farmers but also from some of the indigenous highland
tribes. The second-oldest of the three brothers,Nguyễn Huệ, was
renowned for being a skilled and charismatic military leader whose
leadership proved pivotal in the later victories against the opposing
forces.

In 1773,
the Tây Sơn was able to capture the port of
Qui Nhơn, where the merchants, who had grown dissatisfied of
the Nguyễn’s reign due to the restrictive laws put in place,
funded their army and cause with handsome financial support, which
allowed the Tây Sơn army to expand their influence and a great
threat.

The
Nguyễn, finally recognizing the danger posted by the Tây Sơn
rebels, formed a truce with the Siamese, giving up some of the lands
they had conquered in the previous decades, in order to focus their
efforts on quelling the rebellions. Unfortunately for the Nguyễn,
their situation deteriorated when Trịnh
Sâm, the active ruler of the Trịnh clan at the time, took
advantage of the chaos in the south and deployed his army to the
Nguyễn Lords’ capital, Phú Xuân (now Huế). The Trịnh army
captured the city and forced the Nguyễn to escape to Gia Định.

The Trịnh
army continued heading south while the Tây Sơn army proceeded with
their conquest of other southern cities. In 1776, the Tây Sơn army
finally captured the last Nguyễn stronghold in Gia Định.The entire Nguyễn family was killed at the end of the siege,
except for one nephew, Nguyễn Ánh,
who managed to escape to Siam. After
defeating the Nguyễn, the oldest Tây Sơn brother, Nguyễn Nhạc,
proclaimed himself Emperor in 1778. This declaration effectively led
the newly established Tây Sơn dynasty to an inevitable
confrontation with the Trịnh.

The
Tây Sơn dynasty spent the next years consolidating their rule over
the former Nguyễn territory, but their path to peace and stability
was constantly challenged. The surviving Nguyễn Ánh managed to
convince the King of Siam to support him and send his men to invade
Vietnam. The Siamese army attacked the country in 1780, yet they were
unable to completely subdue the Tây Sơn. In 1782, the Siamese king
was slain in a revolt. As a result, Nguyễn Ánh's weakened and
divided forces were beaten and driven out of Vietnam’s soil. In
1785, Siam launched yet another invasion, which would eventually end
in defeat at the hands of Nguyễn Huệ in theBattle of Rạch
Gầm-Xoài Mút.

Having
vanquished the Nguyễn clan, Nguyễn Huệ decided to get rid of
the Trịnh in the north as well. He led his men northward in 1786
and, after a short campaign, succeeded in defeating the Trịnh army.
The Trịnh clan at the time was also unpopular with the people.
Taking advantage of this as well as the support they enjoyed, the Tây
Sơn army seemed invincible.

A few
months later, realising that his hope of retaining power had gone,
Emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled north to the Qing Empire of China,
where he formally petition the Emperor for aid. The Emperor agreed to
restore Lê Chiêu Thống to power as a puppet ruler, and in 1788, a
large Qing army marched south into Vietnam and captured the capital
Thăng Long. Their victory was doomed to end. In
a surprise attack, while the Qing army was celebrating theLunar New Year,
Nguyễn Huệ's army defeated them at theBattle of Ngọc
Hồi-Đống Đa and
forced them, along with Lê Chiêu Thống, to flee back to China.

Nguyễn
Huệ’s success at defeating both the Trịnh and the Nguyễn
Lords as well as the Qing effectively ended the division of the
country after a hundred years of separation.

In
1788, Nguyễn Huệ officially became the Emperor of the new Tây
Sơn dynasty, proclaiming himself Emperor Quang Trung, recognized by
China as An Nam Quốc Vương. Emperor Quang Trung would rule the
country until his early death in 1792.

One
of the most significant changes implemented under the rule of Emperor
Quang Trung’s reign was that Chữ Nôm (The Southern Scripts) was
made the official language of business in the nation, replacing the
traditional Chinese characters. This change was not only politically
noteworthy, but it was also important for the culture and literature
of the country during the Tây Sơn’s reign. Multiple timeless Nôm
works of literary values were produced, with the most prominent
example of the Nôm poetess Hồ Xuân Hương.

After
Emperor Quang Trung's death, his son Nguyễn Quang Toản was
crowned as Emperor Cảnh Thịnh when he was only ten years old. Due
to his young age, real political power was centralized in the hands
of his uncle Bùi Đắc Tuyền, who enacted a massive political
purge, executing many subjects who had served and sworn loyalty to
the late Quang Trung. The Tây Sơn’s dynasty began to weaken.

The
Nguyễn Dynasty:

The
death of Emperor Quang Trung and the subsequent rift in the Tây
Sơn’s inner circle effectively paved the way for Nguyễn Ánh to
capture the entire country within 10 years, aided by the French
military adventurers enlisted bybishop
Pigneau de Behaine. In 1800,Nguyễn
Ánh occupiedQuy
Nhơn citadel. In 1801, he occupiedPhú
Xuân, forcingNguyễn
Quang Toản to flee to Thăng Long. In 1802, Nguyễn Ánh launched
an attack on Thăng Long. Nguyễn Quang Toản was captured soon
afterwards and executed, thus ending the Tây Sơn dynasty after only
24 years.

Nguyễn
Ánh took the throne for himself and became the Emperor Gia Long. He
established the Nguyễn Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of
Vietnam, in 1802. Emperor Gia Long repealed the reforms implemented
by the Tây Sơn dynasty and rigidly reinstated the classical
Confucian education and civil service system. He moved the capital
fromHa NộitoHuế
and built up fortresses and apalace
in his new capital. Using the French’s expertise and knowledge, Gia
Long modernized Vietnam's defensive capabilities, turning the country
into a major military power in the region. However, Gia Long was not
fond of the westerners. In deference to the assistance of his French
allies, Gia Long simply tolerated the activities of Roman Catholic
missionaries. Such tolerance would become increasingly restricted
under the reigns of his successors.

In 1820,
Gia Long’s fourth son, Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, became the second
Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty after the former had passed away.
Nguyễn Phúc Đảm proclaimed himself Emperor Minh Mạng, and
with his power, he continued on his predecessor’s legacy by
reinforcing the strict Confucian orthodoxy. He would vehemently
oppose to the westerners’ involvements in the country, banning
western missionaries from entering or preaching.

His
firmness in dealing with missionaries and Christianity resulted in
the deaths of multiple followers and preachers. Additionally, with
his isolationist and conservative policies, Minh Mạng intensified
his efforts to prevent Europeans from entering the country, refusing
several attempts at starting commercial deals from various countries
throughout his rule until his eventual passing in 1841.

His death
would soon usher the way for the French to colonize the country,
starting in 1858 with an attack on the port of Đà Nẵng by French
Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly under
the orders of Napoleon III.

Hence, a
new chapter in Vietnam’s history would begin, one in which the
nation would fall into the clutch of the French and one in which the
existence of the Nguyễn Dynasty was reduced to nothing more than an
empty, valueless title.

***

Introduction

In
Response to the Northerners’ Query Regarding An Nam’s Customs

(Đáp
Bắc Nhân Vấn An Nam Phong Tục)

By Hồ
Quý Ly (1336 – 1407)

You wish to know the state of An Nam, yes?

An Nam’s customs are, in essence, refined.

Headwears and robes are not unlike the Tang’s,

Rites and music are the same as the Han’s.

Jade bottles pour just-distilled, fragrant wine,

Gold knives dissect exquisite smallscale carps.

Each year, when February or March comes,

Peaches and plums alike share the same spring.

The
Vietnamese society, culture and literature, prior to the 20th
century, had been largely influenced by the Chinese ever since Ngô
Quyền successfully won the nation’s independence from the
Northern power back in 938. After becoming a free country, however,
the Vietnamese rulers at the time would impose upon themselves and
their subjects the structures of political and social control
fashioned after that of China in order to protect the nation from
being forcefully taken by the Northerners, who had, for more than a
thousand years, ruled over them. Instead of allowing the country to
be sinicized completely and against their will, the Vietnamese
leaders at the time willingly imposed sinicization upon themselves
and established themselves as a subvervient country, all for the sake
of peace.

The
Vietnamese rulers adopted the rigid Confucian hierarchy and ideology
from China as a result. Due to such implementations, the literary
customs of the nation were heavily influenced by that of China in
many ways: classical Chinese became the official language, the civil
service examination systems were adopted and, as a result, literature
rose to prominence to become one of the most important criteria for
scholars aiming to become mandarins and serve the state.

Poetry,
as a result, also rose to a paramount status. It was thus compulsory
or scholars to be able to compose poems in any given situation and on
any circumstance of life; scholars were expected to be able to
produce works of great literary values in classical Chinese when the
moment demanded, even for simple occasions such as a friendly
reunion, a parting of friends or a social gathering. Poetry was the
measure of a scholar’s, and by extension, a mandarin’s
competence, used to evaluate whether or not he could be of service to
the state and to the king. For centuries, the practice of poetry
composition, along with the system of social service examination,
would continue to persist until it would at last lose its prominence
in the late 19th century, when the French invaded and
eventually colonized Vietnam.

Unlike
modern poets, who are given various choices and freedom regarding
what types of poems they can compose, scholars who were considered
qualified for bureaucratic positions at the time could only write
verses in accordance to all of the strict and sophisticated rules of
Chinese poetry, especially the Tang poetry known as Lüshi (an
eight-line regulated verse). Lüshi became prominent as, in
many ways, it rigidly embraced every virtue expected of a scholar
wishing to join the governmental power: an absolute adherence, or
submission, to higher authority and rules and a complete disdain for
that which was not considered orthodox.

As time
passed, the Vietnamese, using the classical Chinese script along with
its semantic and phonemic similarities to Vietnamese words, developed
their own writing, which they dubbed Chữ Nôm (The Southern
Script). Believed to have
originated in as early as the tenth century, Chữ Nôm eventually
rose in popularity and importance, as it at long last allowed the
Vietnamese people a means to record their sounds and speeches, one
which they could proudly call their own. With its introduction, more
and more poets would employ the Nôm script for their essays and
literary works, finally breathing their own life and using their own
voice instead of a borrowed one. However, Chữ Nôm, despite being
created by and for the Vietnamese people, was in reality much more
difficult than the classical Chinese characters on which the writing
system was based. In terms of linguistics features, Chữ Nôm
directly borrowed certain elements of the already complex Chinese
characters and further added some new Vietnamese phonemic features to
the characters. The resulting number of characters for an expression
consequently became twice as much and twice as tricky to master in
the end, rendering the reading and writing of the Nôm scripts
inaccessible to the illiterate mass.

Still, it
is undeniable that Chữ Nôm was a significant invention of the
Vietnamese people, and it would continue to become more popular with
the scholarly and the learned. While the traditionalists aiming for
bureaucratic positions continued to compose verses in classical
Chinese, those interested in the reading and writing poetry simply
for the sake of doing so would produce verses and works written in
the Southern script on topics of their own personal passions rather
than purely for the service of the state or for the sake of attaining
fame and fortune.

Along
with the domestication of the classical Chinese to create Chữ Nôm,
the Vietnamese poets would proceed to do the same with the regulated
Tang poetry which had for so long been ingrained into their culture:
the Lüshi. More and more works following the Lüshi’s
rules were published, but the language was distinctly that of the
Vietnamese. That transitional process from Chinese to Nôm in
composition was not at all difficult, for Chữ Nôm and the
classical Chinese script shared certain linguistic similarities.

Both the
Nôm and Chinese are, in nature, monosyllabic languages, meaning each
utterance in Vietnamese can indeed stand alone as a separate word.
Additionally, in both languages, sentences need not contain purely
functional words, allowing them brevity and vagueness of expressions,
allowing for multiple interpretations at the same time – a feature
which poets of the feudal eras took advantage of and utilized in the
most masterful manners. Yet the most important feature which the Nôm
and Chinese share is the presence of tones – bằng (flat)
and trắc (sharp) – which make them sound pleasantly
melodious to the ears when the poems are recited aloud, effectively
enabling them to be memorized more easily and to be popularized more
widely.

Following
the gradual domestication of the Lüshi, the literature of
Vietnam began to head towards a different direction. From works
written soley for literary values or for sevice to the authority,
Vietnamese poets began to compose works which diverted from the norms
and from the Confucian ideology. Humor, wits, puns, satire and even
delicate topics such as sex – elements which were avoided by the
traditionalists – were incorporated into the compositions and
popularized to the people through the purely Vietnamese poetic forms
known as the Song thất lục bát (Double seven, six, eight)
and Lục bát (Six-eight), both of which were commonly
employed in folk poetry. Vietnamese folk poetry would be commonly
sung and recited by the common and illiterate mass, and it was
through those verses that the true, honest feelings of the people
were shown through the simple yet captivating melodies as well as the
various images associated with the rustic life at the countryside
villages, such as the cranes, the bamboos, the buffalo and countless
more.

Traditionally,
the themes which poets usually wrote on were those which reflected
the various aspects of the nation’s culture and society. Yet for a
long time, most of those reflections were viewed mostly from the
perspective of the ruling classes and the powerful: the royal
families, the nobilities, the mandarins and bureaucrats. With the
rise and popularity of folk poetry and its forms, the Vietnamese
people slowly yet steadily broke away from the influences of the Tang
poetry which had for so long constricted and bound them in inflexible
frames and complicated rules. Several poems of great literary values
were written in the Nôm script and passed down through generations,
with the most exceptional examples being king Lê Thánh Tông’s
Hồng Đức Quốc Âm Thi Tập (The Hồng Đức
Anthology of Poems Written in the National Language) in the fifteenth
century, Đoàn Thị Điểm’s Nôm translation of Đặng Trần
Côn’s Chinese original of Chinh Phụ Ngâm (Lament of the
Soldier’s Wife) in the eighteenth century, Hồ Xuân Hương’s
various daring Nôm poems, and, most famously, Nguyễn Du’s Truyện
Kiều (The Tale of Kiều) in the nineteenth century, which was
composed using the Lục Bát poetic form.

Under the
reign of the Tây Sơn Dynasty, progressive reforms turned the Nôm
script the country’s official language in the eighteenth century,
and it was at this time that poetry written in Nôm flourished the
most. Even women, after having been positioned at the bottom of
society and denied formal education for so long according to the
Confucian doctrine, were trained in the art of poetry composition,
and many displayed their talents which rivaled or, in some cases,
stunningly exceeded those of men. For instance, Đoàn Thị Điểm,
a talented poetess, left the older scholars visiting her house
speechless, rendering them unable to form a poetic response to her
poems. Similarly, Hồ Xuân Hương, with her unique boldness and
wits, scathingly exposed the social injustice and moral degradations
of various classes of people which had for so long haunted the nation
through her use of folk knowledge, proverbs and mythology as well as
through her witty wordplay and sexual double entendres apparent in
her compositions on seemingly mundane objects or topics found in
people’s everyday life.

All the
tumultuous events taking place in the late 18th and early
19th centuries – all the rises and falls of various
dynasties, the cultural and social reforms implemented by the Tây
Sơn and the Nguyễn Dynasties, and the appearance of western forces
inside the nation – also greatly influenced the literature of the
country in the time, serving as inspirations for the poets and
poetesses.

The
war-torn time and the sorrows caused by the splitting of family
members, of husbands and wives were vividly illustrated in Đoàn Thị
Điểm’s Nôm translation of Đặng Trần Côn’s Chinh Phụ
Ngâm (Lament of a Soldier’s Wife). The years when the vernacular
Nôm became the official language of all courtly affairs and literary
practice were highlighted by various poets, with the prime examples
being the works of Hồ Xuân Hương, many of which were aimed at
cleverly exposing the inequality in the male-dominant society as well
as expressing the thoughts and feelings of the females, and Nguyễn
Du’s Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều), which not only
told a woeful tale of trials and tribulations faced by the titular
Kiều, but also reflected great details all aspects of society,
including the turmoil of warfare, the degradation of morals and the
oppressive, corrupted forces which trampled upon the lives of honest,
peaceful people.

Under the
reign of Emperor Minh Mạng, the hearts and minds of many scholars
were still filled with nostalgia and laments for the golden age of
the Lê Dynasty now long extinguished – powerful emotions which
stir the heart and mind and serve as inspirations for poets such as
Nguyễn Gia Thiều, Nguyễn Hành and Bà Huyện Thanh Quan,
whose works were, though limited in number, deeply and artistically
resounding compositions drenched in nostalgia.

Due to
the aforementioned significance of the timeless works of Đoàn Thị
Điểm, Hồ Xuân Hương and Bà Huyện Thanh Quan – three of
the most famous poetesses in the history of Vietnam, I have decided
to choose some of their most popular works and translate them into
English while attempting to – to the best of my current ability –
preserve some of the formal and musical qualities of the orginal
poems while retaining, as much as possible, the message within the
poems. Annotations will also be provided for details, allusions and
cultural references which the translations fail to fully convey. As
the translations in this book are the result of my own
experimentations, any mistakes and inaccuracies present are,
therefore, owing to my own shortcomings and mine alone.

***

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Hồ Xuân Hương

(1772
– 1822)

HỒ XUÂN HƯƠNG
was born at the end of the later Lê Dynasty (1592-1788), a period of
great unrests and turmoil. At the end of the Lê Dynasty, the
Confucian hierarchy which had for centuries dominated society was on
the verge of collapse. As a result, new powers arose to covet powers
and influence for themselves.

Her
Life and Legends:

Despite
her fame and legacy, not much is actually known about Hồ Xuân
Hương’s life, and what is known belongs mostly to the realm of
speculations and is, as a result, subject to much debate. Obscure
though her records were, most scholars and researchers generally
agree that Hồ Xuân Hương was born in Quỳnh Đôi village, in
Quỳnh Lưu district of Nghệ An province, located in the central
northern region of Vietnam. However, that is where the agreement
ends. Many scholars debate about her origin and parentage, with many
claiming that she was the daughter of a concubine named Hà Thị,
and her father was either Hồ Sỹ Danh (1706-1783) or Hồ Phi Diễn
(1703-1786), both of whom were scholars.

In
1819, according to professor Nguyễn Huệ Chi of the Institution of
Literature in Hà Nội, there is an official record which refers to
“the concubine Hồ Xuân Hương” Such a reference was part of
the record of an execution for bribery. One official named Trần
Phúc Hiển, then the governor of Yên Quảng province, was
executed by order of the emperor. The record in question mentions
that the concubine of this man was a woman named Hồ Xuân Hương,
who was at the time famous for her skills in both literature and
politics.

Her
past continues to be shrouded in debate and mysteries till this day.
As a result, stories and legends of her life were popularized. There
was a legend which talked about her occupation as an owner of a
roadside tea shop in Thăng Long (the old name for Hà Nội in
present day) who was famous for her ability to compose perfectly
structured poems as effortlessly as the act of breathing. Hồ Xuân
Hương, therefore, attracted lots of young men attending he civil
service examinations, who would come to her to match wits and
literary skills.

Whatever
the facts may be, one undeniable truth is that Hồ Xuân Hương
became well-known for her ability to compose poems which were filled
with wits and humor and innuendoes. She even borrowed the earthly
voice of the common people in her expressions, and incorporated
images associated with the rustic countryside life into her works,
turning them into beautiful, resounding and, in multiple cases,
scathingly critical and ironic. As for her marital status, Hồ Xuân
Hương is believed to have married twice, as her poems specifically
mention two husbands: the prefect of Vĩnh Tường and Tổng Cóc
(Commisioner Toad). Based on her poem “Mourning the Prefect of Vĩnh
Tường” (p. 34), her relationship with the Prefect was based on
true affection, and she deeply mourned his death, his talent as well
as their brief relationship together, one which would only last
twenty-seven months.

Her
Works:

In
the Northern region, the influential Trịnh clan effectively reduced
the Lê kings into becoming their puppets and gathered power unto
their hands, ruling the country as they pleased. The Trịnh,
however, did not achieve total supremacy yet, as they were locked in
a civil war with the Nguyễn clan in the south (whose court was
situated in Huế). The Nguyễn clan was assisted by the Portuguese
and the French troops recruited by colonial missionaries in the
conflict, further and further splitting the country into pieces.
However, the list of calamities did not end there. Wishing to unite
the nation once more and overthrowing the rotten powers responsible
for the country’s division, in 1771, the three Tây Sơn brothers
rallied the people and led a rebellion, one which would result in the
establishment of a new, yet short-lived dynasty of their own, from
1788 to 1802.

This
time of chaos, warfare, instability and uncertainty was a fuel for
the poetic minds and talents around the country, serving as their
inspiration for their works. It is not, however, strange that such
themes would be incorporated into poetry. Among those poets was Hồ
Xuân Hương, a name that stood out above the rest, for she was,
first and foremost, a woman. While it is true that women did hold
prestigious positions in Vietnamese history, with the most prominent
being the Trưng Sisters as the commanders of an army, women were not
formally trained in literature, nor were they allowed to take part in
national examinations to become officials in court. In a society
dominated by ancient Confucian traditions and beliefs, that a woman
would partake in the art of poet was unusual and unthinkable. Yet,
with her talents with poetry, Hồ Xuân Hương produced works which
would bring her timeless acclaim into the modern day.

The
reasons for Hồ Xuân Hương’s fame were numerous, but one of the
most prominent factors which made her name known was the themes which
she chose to write about. When the Lê Dynasty was heading toward its
inevitable ruination, women were being increasingly looked down upon,
reduced to following the whims of men. A woman, according to the
Confucian doctrine, existed solely for the sake of the men in her
household, for her father, for her relatives, then for her husband,
and later for her son, even after they had passed away. Women, banned
from sitting in civil examinations, were only good for taking care of
all the menial tasks in the house; their greatest honor was to be
married off to whomever their parents dictated and to produce an
heir. Confucianism had long been used as a guiding compass and law,
which dictated that a woman must obey her father when unmarried, her
husband when married and her son even when widowed. They had no
freedom for themselves, and they lived only to serve the will of the
men with whom she was affiliated. Additionally, tradition also
dictated that women must keep their filial duty at all time; they
were not allowed to divorce their husbands (even in when the husbands
passed away), but the latter could divorce the former if needed.

Hồ
Xuân Hương did not accept such a fate of servitude, much less one
of a concubine. She instead constantly and rigorously questioned the
orders of all things, and her focus of criticism was placed upon the
authority which men held in society. Social and custom restraints
were forced upon the women in the feudal era. Even Hồ Xuân Hương’s
poetic defiance and challenge of the male authority was considered
extremely risky to her own life. Her insolence could have easily been
punished by death, yet she lived and flourished as a poet.

Another
important nod to Hồ Xuân Hương’s defiance and daring nature is
the fact that she chose to write her poems using the Nôm script
rather than classical Chinese, which was at the time the language of
the elite and the learned. As a result, Hồ Xuân Hương’s poetry
is more closely connected with the daily language of the common
people. Her verses came to life with the vivid imagery and were
always filled with the allusions to proverbs, folklore and mythology.

Moreover,
Hồ Xuân Hương further pushed her defiance and boldness into
higher grounds with the inclusion of double entendres and sexual
innuendos in a large number of her poems (many of which are included
and translated in this book). She wrote on various commonplace
objects such as a snail, a jackfruit, the traditional game of
swinging, a folding fan, the act of sleeping, playing chess, a gorge…
However, if one were to scrutinize more closely the clever wordplay,
homonyms, puns, the various elements borrowed from folktales and
proverbs she employed, one could detect the witty and stunning sexual
references hidden therein. Sex was a topic few, if any, poets of the
past had ever dared to touch upon, for sex and nudity were taboos in
Confucianism.

And
yet, in a time when such acts of defiance, such references to sex and
nudity and indecency could easily land her a death sentence, Hồ
Xuân Hương survived everything and thrived even more. It was
ultimately her mastery and talent as a poet of the people, as well as
of the folk culture in general, which gave her life, one which would
be immortalized until this very day (some of her poems have even
found their way into Vietnam’s literature textbook for students to
learn).

All
in all, her witty mastery at wordplay, her wicked sense of humor, her
employment of the native speech, her loneliness and longing, her
ever-present hunger for love and passion, her empathy with the women
in society, her pride as a woman herself, and her anger at all the
corruptions under the rule of men have made Hồ Xuân Hương a
national poet and a literary and cultural icon. Her title as “The
Queen of Nôm Poetry” (which was given to her by the modern poet
Xuân Diệu) is one which she so rightfully deserves.

Translation Notes:

Most of
Hồ Xuân Hương’s Nôm poems which I have chosen to translate in
this book are written in the forms of Thất Ngôn Tứ Tuyệt
(Seven Characters, Four Lines) and Thất Ngôn Bát Cú (Seven
Characters, Eight Lines). These regulated poetic forms are
collectively referred to as Đường Luật, a Vietnamese variant of
the Tang poetry in China.

In Thất
Ngôn Tứ Tuyệt, there are four lines in total, with each
containing seven characters. Similarly, poems written in the Thất
Ngôn Bát Cú form has eight lines of seven characters each. In
addition to the limited lines and characters, there are several rules
to which a poet must adhere, with the most important being the rules
of bằng (flat) and trắc (sharp) tones. Take the
first two lines of Hồ Xuân Hương’s Bánh Trôi Nước
(A Cake Afloat in Water) for example:

Thân em vừa trắng lại vừatròn,

……Flat……Sharp…..Flat

Bảy nổi ba chìm với nướcnon.

…...Sharp…Flat…..Sharp

Rắn nát mặc dầu tay kẻ nặng

…..Sharp…..Flat….Sharp

Mà em vẫn giữ tấm lòngson.

….Flat…..Sharp….Flat

In Thất
Ngôn Tứ Tuyệt, the second, fourth and sixth syllables in a
couplet must have opposite tones, while the seventh sounds of the
first, second and fourth lines must rhyme with one another. The same
tonal rules are applied in Thất Ngôn Bát Cú, whose number of
lines is doubled. Additionally, in Thất Ngôn Bát Cú, the rule of
rhyming is further extended as well: the end syllables of the first,
second, fourth, sixth and eighth lines must rhyme with one another.
These complex rules effectively create a musical quality to these
poems, making them sound like songs when recited aloud. In addition
to the formal rules, there are several others related to the contents
of the poems, including the structure (the first two lines are the
introduction; the next couplet are the descriptions, the fifth and
sixth lines are inferences, and the last two lines are the
conclusion) and the use of contrastive elements in lines three and
four as well as in lines five and six (both in terms of tones and
imagery). Such complexities are the reasons why these forms were only
popular among scholars and the aristocrats, and why they are
difficult for translators.

When
translating these poems, as I have done in my previous book titled
101 Translated Ca Dao Songs, I have tried my best to translate
the poems of Hồ Xuân Hương and Bà Huyện Thanh Quan (The Lady
of Thanh Quan Prefecture) in a manner which could mimic the forms of
the original as much as I possibly could, and all the translated
poems here are the results of my personal experimentations. However,
due to the differences of linguistic features, such a feat is
extremely difficult or, in certain cases, impossible to perfectly
translate. As for rhymes, due to the limited amount of pure rhymes
available in English, I have opted for slant rhymes instead.

***

Bánh Trôi Nước

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Thân em vừa trắng
lại vừa tròn,

Bảy nổi ba chìm
với nước non,

Rắn nát mặc dầu
tay kẻ nặn,

Mà em vẫn giữ tấm
lòng son.

The
Cake Afloat in Water

My body is as white as
it is round,

Like hills in water,
now afloat, now drown’d.

I’m, firm or
crumpling, made by kneading hands,

But still, my rouge-red
heart I keep thus sound.

Quả Mít

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Thân em như quả mít
trên cây,

Da nó xù xì múi nó
dày,

Quân tử có yêu xin
đóng cọc,

Đừng mân mó nữa
nhựa ra tay

The
Jackfruit

I’m like a jack on a
tree,

Its skin is rough,
flesh chunky,

Should sir love me,
drive the stake,

Don’t grope; your
hands sap’ll sully.

Con Cua

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Em có mai xanh, có
yếm vàng,

Ba quân khiêng kiệu,
kiệu nghêng ngang.

Xin theo ông Khổng
về Đông Lỗ

Học thói Bàn Canh
nấu chín Thang.

The
Crab

I have blue shell, gold
breastplate,

Troops lift the
palanquin great,

Follow Kong (1)
to Eastern Lu,

Learn Pan Geng’s
way (2) to Thang (3) make.

(1) Kong:
Confucius (Kong Zi)

(2) Pan
Geng: The Chinese King of the Shang Dynasty. His name when spoken in
Vietnamese sounds similar to Bàn Canh (noodles and soup).

(3)
Thang: Thành Thang (Chen Tang), the first king of the Shang Dynasty
whose footsteps Pan Geng wished to follow. This poem describes a crab
and refers to the act of learning how to use the crab to make noodles
and soup (Bàn Canh – Pan Geng). Additionally, in Vietnam, there is
a dish called bún thang (Thang noodles), whose second sound
sounds exactly the same as the Vietnamese pronunciation for the
“Tang” in Chen Tang (Thành Thang). In short, the last line
refers to the act of learning how to make bún thang with
wordplay, playing with the names of prominent Chinese political
figures.

Ốc Nhồi

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Bácmẹ sinh ra phận ốc nhồi

Đêm
ngàylănlócđám cỏ hôi,

Quântử có thương thì bóc yếm (*)

Xinđừng ngó ngoáy lỗ trôn tôi.

The
Snail

Parents give birth to a
snail,

Day, night crawl midst
grass’s foul smell,

Should sir love me,
strip my lid (*),

Don’t prod my
rear-hole as well.

(*)"Bóc yếm" means "removing
the yếm" (a traditional kind of brassiere worn by women in the
feudal era). However, the word "yếm" is an extremely
clever wordplay with a double entendre, as it has a homonym which
refers to the operculum (literally meaning "little lid")
which snails have. This pun is nigh-impossible to translate perfectly
due to the differences between Vietnamese and English. In the end, I
made the conscious choice to use "lid" (which,
scientifically, can be used to refer to the operculum of gastropods).
At the same time, "lid" is synonymous with the noun
"cover," which could, rather loosely, be understood as the
garments which conceal the body.

Mời Ăn Trầu

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Quảcau nho nhỏ miếng trầuhôi

Này của XuânHương mới quệt rồi

Có phải duyên
nhau thì thắm lại

Đừngxanh như lá bạc như vôi.

Offering
Betel

Small areca, bland
betel,

Xuân Hương’s has
been smeared, behold, (*)

If love’s destined,
it’ll turn red,

Not leaf-green,
lime-white like so.

(*) Quệt (smear):
People smear, or apply, some lime onto the betel leaf before chewing.

Đồng Tiền Hoẻn

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Cũng khuôn, cũng
đúc, cũng lò gang,

Mở mặt vuông tròn
với thế gian.

Kém cạnh cho nên
mang tiếng hoẻn,

Đủ đồng, từng
đã đóng nên quan.

A
Dented Coin

Same frame, same shape,
same furnace,

To life come round
form, square face,

Dented, lesser though
it’s deemed,

Saved up, a guàn
(*) it shall make.

(*) A guàn: The
old currency in the feudal era. One guan equals 100 coins.

(*)Dì-zàng:
The Chinese pronunciation for Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva who,
according to Buddhism, taken a vow to never ascend to Buddhahood
until all hells have been emptied.

Chơi Hoa

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Đã trót chơi hoa
phải có trèo,

Trèo lên chớ ngại
mỏi xương nhèo,

Cành la cành bổng
vin co vít,

Bông chín bông xanh
để lộn phèo (*).

Playing
with Blooms

To play with blooms,
climb one must,

Climb and mind not
bones that ache,

Low limbs, high limbs,
pull and clutch,

Blossoms, green buds
tangles make.

(*) “Lộn
phèo” when read in reverse (nói lái) becomes “Phẹo lồn”
which, true to Hồ Xuân Hương’s style of poetry, refers to the
act of copulation. Again, this is a wordplay that is well
nigh-impossible to translate into English satisfactorily.

Đền Thái Thú

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Ghé mắt trông ngang
thấy bảng treo,

Kìa đền Thái Thú
đứng cheo leo.

Ví đây đổi phận
làm trai được,

Sự nghiệp anh hùng
há bấy nhiêu.

At
a Tai-shou’s
Shrine

The glancing eye spots
a sign,

On steep grounds stands
Tai-shou’s shrine (*),

If I could live a man’s
fate,

More gallant feats I’d
realize.

(*)
Tai-shou (太守):
A bureaucratic position with the task of overseeing a zhou
(châu) – an
administrative unit in ancient China.

Khóc Tổng Cóc

By Hồ Xuân Hương

Hỡichàng ôi, hỡi chàng ôi,

Thiếp bénduyên chàng có thế thôi.

Nòng nọc đứt đuôi
từ đây nhé,

Nghìnvàng khôn chuộc dấu bôi vôi.

Mourning
CommissionerCóc

My man, oh, my dear
man, oh,

Our love could but so
far go,

Tadpole will hence lose
its tail,

Lime mark shan’t be
blurred by gold (*).

(*)
According to a folktale, the Jade Emperor once opened an examination
for all the fish to attend. The toad (cóc, which is also the name of
Hồ Xuân Hương’s dead husband mentioned in this poem) also came
to the examination site. However, due to not having any gills or fins
like the other fish, the toad was not allowed entrance. The toad
stubbornly protested, stating that it had once had a tail as a
tadpole, but the tail had fallen off. The official in charge of the
examination did not appreciate the toad’s stubbornness, and ordered
his underlings to beat up the toad, smear its battered head with lime
and kick it out of the site.

Khóc Ông Phủ
Vĩnh Tường

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Trăm
năm ông phủ Vĩnh Tường ôi!

Cái
nợ ba sinh đã trả rồi,

Chôn
chặt văn chương ba thước đất,

Tung
hê hồ thỉ bốn phương trời.

Cán
cân tạo hóa rơi đâu mất,

Miệng
túi càn khôn khép lại rồi

Hăm
bảy tháng trời đà mấy chốc,

Trăm
năm ông phủ Vĩnh Tường ôi!

Mourning
the Prefect of Vĩnh Tường

Lifetime! Vĩnh Tường
Prefect, oh!

The debt of love,
you’ve paid all,

Poems interred three
feet deep,

Ambitions blown far by
winds.

Creation’s scale,
dropped, is lost,

Cosmos’s bag’s
mouth, sealed, is closed.

Twenty-seven months was
brief,

Lifetime! Vĩnh Tường
Prefect, oh!

Vịnh Khách Đáo Gia

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Nhện sa cá nhẩy
mấy hôm qua,

Uẩy uẩy hôm nay
bác đến nhà,

Điếu thuốc quyến
đàm mừng bác vậy,

Miếng trầu đỏ
tuổi gọi chi là,

Ao sâu nước cả
khôn tìm cá,

Vườn rộng rào
thưa khó đuổi gà,

Bác đến chơi đây
mừng bác vậy,

Nhà thì không có
chợ thì xa.

The
Unwelcome Houseguest

Spider’s spun, fish’s
jumped for days,

Oh dear, you’ve come
to my place,

Please have some
tobacco spit,

The red betel here,
please have,

I, in deep pond, can’t
catch fish,

Midst yard’s sparse
fence, cocks can’t chase.

Since you have come,
you I’ll host,

With no house, nigh
marketplace.

Vịnh Miêu

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Cũng thì nanh vuốt
kém chi nao

Chưa biết mèo nào
cắn miu nào

Xuống lệnh con hươu
tài nhảy nhót

Ra uy hùng hổ tiếng
bào hao

Co do cúi mặt leo từ
dưới

Khúm núm thu hình
thót nhẩy cao

Chí quyết phen này
vồ lấy cống

Rồi lên đài các
sẽ nghêu ngao.

The
Cats

Like all with fangs,
claws endow’d,

None know which cat
bites which now,

Order skilled stags to
go dance,

Roar like august tigers
proud,

Shrink with face down,
forward stalk,

Crouch the body,
swiftly bounce.

Resolve to now catch
the rat,

Then on high grounds
stand and meow.

Phận Đàn Bà

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Hỡi chị em ơi có
biết không?

Một bên con khóc
một bên chồng.

Bố cu lổm ngồm bò
trên bùng,

Thằng bé hu hơ khóc
dưới hông,

Tất cả những là
thu với vén,

Vội vàng nào những
bống cùng bông.

Chồng con cái nợ
là như thế,

Hỡi chị em ơi có
biết không?

A
Woman’s Fate

Hear, hear sisters, do
you know?

Bawling child and
husband both,

The spouse on the
stomach crawls,

The child at the side
wails so.

All things must be
tidied up,

In haste take care of
it all.

To husband, child thus
obliged,

Hear, hear sisters, do
you know?

Thương Thay Phận Gái

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Thương thay phận
gái cũng là người,

Nỡ bỏ xuân xanh
quá nửa đời,

Ông Nguyệt nỡ nào
trêu quải mãi,

Chị Hằng khéo nhẽ
éo le thôi,

Hoa còn phong nhụy
ong ve vãy,

Gió đã phai hương
bướm tả tơi,

Quá ngán thợ trời
ghê gớm bấy,

Xuân xanh được mấy
chút thương ôi.

Pity
a Woman’s Fate

A woman is a human
still – pity,

For half her life,
wasted her youth has she,

Why must the Lunar
Elder tease her so? (*)

Why must Chang-o only
face misery?

Buzzing bees round
flowers with pistils intact,

Battered butterflies on
unfragrant winds.

Too weary of Heaven’s
fearsome Schemer,

One’s prime spring
only lasts so long – pity!

(*) The
Lunar Elder: An elderly god who resides in the Moon and spins the red
threads of love to make mortals fall in love according to Vietnamese
and Chinese mythology.

Chửa Hoang

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Cả
nể cho nên hoá dở dang,

Nỗi
niềm nàng có biết chăng chàng.

Duyên
thiên chưa thấy nhô đầu dọc (1)

Phận
liễu sao đà nảy nét ngang. (2)

Cái
nghĩa trăm năm chàng nhớ chửa?

Mảnh
tình một khối thiếp xin mang,

Quản
bao miệng thế lời chênh lệch,

Không
có, nhưng mà có, mới ngoan!

A
Husbandless Pregnancy

Yielding results in
this mess,

My feelings, sir, can
you guess?

Destined love its head
yet lifts (1)

Willow-fate a flat line
gets (2)

The lifelong bond, you
recall?

I’ll bear this load
of love, yes,

Despite rumors the
world makes,

No spouse, but with
child, that’s great!

(1)
(2) In these two lines, the poet used a play on the strokes which
make up the Chinese characters. “Destined love” is a translation
of “duyên thiên” (literally “a match made in heaven”).
“Thiên” is a Chinese-derived word meaning “heaven.” With one
stroke upward, the Chinese character for “heaven” (天)
becomes “husband” (夫).
In line 4, the speaker is referring to the Chinese character for
“finished,” (了),
which is homophonous with
“willow,” a classical symbol for “woman.” A bar across 了turns it into子,
meaning “offspring” or
“child.” Lines 3 and 4 describe the speaker’s condition of
being pregnant without a husband.

Lấy Chồng Chung

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Kẻ đắp chăn bông
kẻ lạnh lùng

Chém cha cái kiếp
lấy chồng chung

Năm chừng mười
họa chăng hay chớ

Một tháng đôi lần
có cũng không

Cố đấm ăn xôi,
xôi lại hỏng

Cầm bằng làm mướn
mướn không công

Nỗi này ví biết
dường này nhỉ

Thời trước thôi
đành ở vậy xong.

Sharing
a Husband

One’s
cotton-blanket’d, one’s cold,

Spouse-sharing life,
damn it all,

Once in a while, do or
don’t,

Twice in one month, yes
or no.

Take fists for rice
(*), rice is spoilt,

Work like a slave,
pay’s zero,

Had I known how it’d
turn out,

I’d have been fine on
my own.

(*) Take
fists for rice: Translated from “Cố đấm ăn xôi” (lit. take
punches for rice). It is a Vietnamese proverb which means that one
must toil in order to obtain the reward one deserves.

Thương

By Hồ
Xuân Hương

Há dám thương đâu
kẻ có chồng,

Thương vì một nỗi
hãy còn không.

Thương con cuốc rũ
kêu mùa Hạ,

Thương cái bèo non
giạt bể Ðông.

Thương cha mẹ nhện
vương tơ lưới,

Thương vợ chồng
Ngâu cách mặt sông.

Ấy thương quân tử
thương là thế,

Há dám thương đâu
kẻ có chồng.

Love

Love, one with a spouse
dares not,

Yet laments the love
yet lost,

Mourns the cuckoo’s
summer cries,

Mourns the East Sea’s
drifting weed,

Mourns parent-spiders
spinning webs,

Mourns Cowherd pair the
stream splits up (*),

Though loving the
gentleman so,

Love, one with a spouse
dares not.

(*)
Cowherd pair: The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd is a Chinese folk tale
about Zhi-nu (the Weaver Girl) and Niu-lang (the Cowherd). In
Vietnam, the story is known as Ngưu Lang, Chức Nữ, with Ngưu
(or Ngâu) meaning “cow.” For the story, see note (37) of Lament
of the Soldier’s Wife (p. 36).

Vô Âm Nữ

By Hồ Xuân Hương

Mười hai bà mụ
ghét chi nhau,

Đem cái xuân tình
cắm ở đâu,

Rúc rích thây cha
con chuột nhắt,

Vo ve mặc mẹ cái
ong bầu,

Đố ai đố biết
vông hay chóc,

Nào kẻ nào hay
cuống với đầu,

Thôi thế thì thôi,
thôi cũng được,

Nghìn năm càng khỏi
tiếng nàng dâu.

A
Girl without Sex

The twelve midwives had
a cow (1),

Misplaced her
maidenhood now.

Screw then the mouse
squeaking there,

Screw then the bee
buzzing round.

An aroid or coral tree?
(2)

The stem and bud, who’d
make out?

If that is so, then
that’s fine,

By an in-law’s fate
unbound.

(1) The twelve
midwives: Twelve fairies in charge of the birth and appearance of a
human

(2) The Vietnamese
people use the images of different trees to describe the sitting
posture: “Ngồi lá vông, chổng mông lá chóc, nằm dọc lá
tre, tè he lá khế.” This could be loosely translated into
English as, “Sitting down like a coral tree’s leaf; putting one’s
bottom up like an aroid’s leaf; lying flat on one’s back like a
bamboo’s leaf; kneeling like a starfruit tree’s leaf.”